Imane Khelif left a rival fighter to thank God for escaping serious injury in 2022, almost two years before her gender controversy at the Paris Olympic Games. Khelif defeated Italy's Angela Carini on Thursday, who withdrew just 46 seconds into the bout after being struck on the nose early on.
Carini was in tears after the match, stating she quit for her own safety and had never been hit so hard before. However, Carini is not the only athlete to express similar concerns after facing Khelif. In December 2022, Khelif beat Brianda Tamara in Guadalajara, Mexico with such intensity that Tamara couldn't believe that she had avoided a serious injury.
Danger Inside the Ring
Several months later, in March 2023, Khelif was disqualified from the final of the IBA Women's World Boxing Championships because of elevated testosterone levels in her system, leading Tamara to make a public statement.
Tama wrote on X at the time: "When I fought with her (Khelif) I felt very out of my depth, her blows hurt me a lot. I don't think I had ever felt like that in my 13 years as a boxer, nor in my sparring with men.
"Thank God that day I got out of the ring safely, and it's good that they finally realized."
A post shared on Tamara's Instagram just two days ago displays her face with cuts and bruises, accompanied by a caption indicating these injuries were from her fight with Khelif.
On Thursday, as Khelif's bout with Carini began to overshadow the Paris Games, Tamara responded to Claressa Shields, an American boxer, on X, revealing that she received death threats after her remarks about fighting Khelif.
"I'm taking a stand! Women should fight against women, men fight against men and transgenders fight against transgenders! This is ridiculous and I'm heartbroken for the women boxers at the Olympics!" Shields wrote.
"But they wished me death when I just reacted," Tamara responded.
No Mercy
Khelif vehemently criticized her disqualification in 2023, stating at the time: "There are some countries did not want Algeria to win a gold medal."
"This is a conspiracy, a big conspiracy, and we will not be silent about it."
Genetic tests conducted in 2023 reportedly revealed that 25-year-old Khelif has male XY chromosomes in her DNA, though she is not transgender.
Similar controversies have arisen in sports before, such as with South African runner Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 800m, who also has XY chromosomes. However, the debate surrounding Khelif is more heated due to the physical nature of boxing.
Khelif, who was defeated in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics, will next compete on Saturday against Hungary's Anna Luca Hamori, who has said that she is not worried about the match.
"I'm not scared," Hamori told reporters. "I don't care about the press story and social media. If she or he is a man, it will be a bigger victory for me if I win. I'm trying to not use my phone before the fight. I don't want to care about the comments or the story or the news.
"I just want to stay focused on myself. I did it before my last two fights, so I think this is the key, and we will see."
